Generation 02, Chapter 03: Seven Years Later...

My first day of work was nearly seven years ago and I am currently laying on a table in a dark room, taking advantage of the free spa treatment coupon that Char gave me last year.  Today is my 28th birthday and I really need to get the heck out of here.  I have the morning off (by some miracle) but I keep checking my phone underneath my towel for a message that I know will come.  There's a 99% chance that I'll have to go and run back to work.

"Relax, your muscles are extremely tense, dear," my masseuse for the morning, Ciruela, clucks disapprovingly as she digs her fingers into my back.  I don't quite understand how people like massages.  It's quite painful on my back.  Not enough to complain about it, fortunately.

My phone vibrates under my robe and I flinch.

"Is something wrong?"

"No!" I say, my voice high.  "I'm just a little tense, as you said.  It makes me, um, jumpy."

She looks at me quizzically but shrugs and turns away to get some lotion for her hands.  I quickly sneak my phone out.  It could be a call from Kar, and everyone knows that you do not miss calls from her.  I believe it was last year when this guy from the ninth floor didn't answer his phone and was twenty minutes late for a meeting.  Kar terminated him from the firm right then and there in the conference room.  It is rumored that he is now living with his mother and hasn't returned to work since then.

Fear of getting canned overcomes my need to obey the rules of the spa and I quickly pull out my phone from my towel while Ciruela isn't looking.

"What is that?!" Ciruela screeches as she whirls around unexpectedly.  Damn, I've been caught.

I jump and push the phone back into my towel.  Fortunately, I was able to catch a few words of the text: the deal is back on. get back here now. meeting at 10.

Apologetically I confess.  "I"m sorry, I really need to go.  Like, right now."

Ciruela's face is a mix of shock and horror, as if she's never heard of a high-powered job before.

"You workaholics," she finally sighs.  "This is your time."

"I really am sorry, but at Gainsboro, my time is their time.  Now if you will excuse me, I must leave immediately."

As of now, we are working with a huge client so I cannot miss this meeting.  I made it to the office at about 9:30.  Kar is standing above my desk but she doesn't intimidate my much anymore.  She stares down at my cluttered desk.  It's messy, but it's organized messy.  Besides, I've been meaning to clean it. Once I find a free six minute interval I'll get right to it.

Kar is very tense right now because she and the other partners are deciding on which associates will become partner this year.  If I get it, I'll be the youngest to be partner in all of Gainsboro history.  If that's not an incentive to do well, then I don't know what is.

Last week, a few other associates and I gave presentations explaining why we'd make good partners and what we'd bring to the firm.  It was difficult to tell if my presentation made them happy.  All the partners, except for Blake and Rusty were frowning.  Tomorrow will be the big reveal and I'm as nervous as one of mom's cats.

"Just get your desk clean, before the meeting, Miss Cohen," Kar finally says.  "Oh, and I emailed you a rather large file that I'd like you to deal with by Thursday " she adds as she walks out the door.

I open up the file and scan it quickly for errors.  I've learned to do everything quickly ever since I started working here.  I eat, walk, talk, and even have sex a lot faster.  Not that I've had much of that lately.  Plus, my stubbornness  refusal to ask for help, and the stress help me to get through the files that partners have been dumping on me much faster.  They're some of my top qualities.  Even Kar complimented me once on my speediness.  And it made my day.  Unfortunately, it only happened once.

After scanning through a bit of the file, I begin to put a few folders away when Rusty comes walking in.

"Calla!  How are you?"  He asks.  Before I can respond, he cuts to the chase.  "I've got a letter of appreciation about you from the chairman of that client you were working with last month.  He's very happy so I'm assuming you saved his company a few million?"

"Yeah, something like that," I blush.

Rusty walks out and another person walks in.  It's Griselda, my secretary and friend.  She lets me know that I have received a message.

"It's from Amber.  Your cleaner.  She wants to know where you keep your vacuum cleaner bags."

What?

With my mean charisma skills, I carefully manage to escape this conversation.  "Look, I have to go to the meeting now, uh, just tell her that I'll figure it out when I get home."

Griselda nods worriedly but takes the bait.  I have no idea what vacuum cleaner bags are but I'll just buy a new vacuum cleaner.  I did see a commercial for vacuums and they kept repeating the fact that the vacuum didn't have bags so I'll get that.

Griselda leaves and I quickly shuffle the papers on my desk so they look a little better.  I didn't get much cleaning done but it's not like Kar actually thought I'd get it completely cleaned.  At least it looks a little better than before.

"Calla?"  I jump.  Looking up I smile when I realized it's only Blake.  He has now become one of my best friends here.  "Coming to the meeting?"  He asks quietly.

"Yeah, let me grab a few things...," I reply distractedly as I fumble around on my desk.  Eventually I don't grab anything.  Meetings almost always supply pens and paper.

If you're wondering about Blake and I, I never did ask him out.  A few weeks after I had started working, I found out that he had apparently noticed me.  He had asked Griselda if I was available.  Unfortunately, stupid stupid me forgot to tell Griselda that I had broken up with Farran.  I was single.  But she didn't know that so she told him I was going out with a partner from another firm (Farran).

Things got awkward after that and Blake started to ignore me for about three months.  During that time I found out that he was going out with a girl named Charna and as of today they are living together.  So, because he just happened to ask Griselda and I just happened to forget to update her on my status, there is now an absolute zero chance of getting together with him.  Fortunately, we are now friends.  I'm fine with this but... there's always those moments when I secretly fantasize about him.

I start to get up and while doing so, I peer at Blake.  His eyes are normally a beautiful blue grey but today they're red-rimmed and baggy.  "You look tired.  Are you okay?"

"I could be better.  Took an all-nighter.  No big deal though."

"I definitely sympathize with you, my friend.  Okay, I'm ready to go."

"What's twenty-seven times thirty-six?"  He quizzes me as we walk down the hall toward the meeting room.

"972," I reply absent-mindedly.

I don't know if my mom told you this but I have always had this weird gift.  I can compute large mathematical problems in my head without a calculator.  Blake is extremely obsessed with my gift and constantly throws out random equations.  It gets really annoying but one time I gave him the wrong number on purpose.  Unfortunately, he actually needed the answer and it nearly ruined the big deal he was working on.  So now I always tell people the correct answer (When in reality, they should just use a calculator).

"Your presentation was amazing.  I heard the other partners talking about it after you had left.  Seriously, Calla, tell me something.  Do you ever make mistakes?"

Are we talking about work because if not, I've made the biggest mistake of my life by not telling you I was single the moment I laid eyes on you, I want to say.

"A ton," I finally answer.  I check my phone.

"I don't believe that," Blake says knowingly as we enter the meeting room.

The meeting was not worth the full ten hours we spent in there.  Halfway through the meeting I had to text mom to let her know that I'd be missing my birthday dinner.

They can't make you stay there on your birthday she replied.  Much her to dismay, they can and they did.

I get home at around 11 o'clock that night and Kar is standing right outside the front door of my apartment buildings.  I nearly walk right passed her until she make a loud cough.

"Cohen," she barks.  "I recently purchased apartment 4D.  Mr. Nero told me you lived here so I suppose we're neighbors for the time being," she adds rather pleasantly.

My legs go weak.  It's that same feeling when you know you've done something horrible and can't escape it.  Oh my God.  This is my worst nightmare.  And yes, I had a dream about this exact situation happening.  Only in the dream the roles were reverse, I was partner and Kar was my lowly associate.

"Welcome to the building," is all I can muster.

I finally escape Kar when she gets off at the 4th floor.  On my way to my room, I drop my keys on the wood floor.  This causes Ms. Rosado to open her door.

"Calla, my dear.  This arrived for you today.  As well as this package.  I didn't know it was your birthday.  Happy Birthday m'dear."

Ever since I met Ms. Rosado, I've learned two things about her.  First of all, she's very nosy and talkative.  Secondly, she's extremely frugal.  The inside of her house looks like a thrift store from the 60s.

"Thank you," I say as I get my door to open.  I turn around to grab the parcels from her but she barges unexpectedly into my apartment.

"I'll help you carry them in," she says as she walks into the TV area.

"You know, you could save a lot of money if you washed the shirts yourself."

Yeah... no.  Not only do I not have the skills, I don't have the time.

I manage to get the older woman to leave my apartment before she starts badgering me about other ways I can save money.  I understand her concern for me, but doesn't she get that I have absolutely no time to do all that stuff?

Sighing, I collapse into my bed after eating some stale chips.  A few minutes later, I open my eyes wide, remembering that I need to set my alarm.  The meeting to decide who is partner starts at 8:00 and I want to know as soon as possible so I set the alarm on my phone for 6:00.  Then I settle back into bed and fall asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NOTE

I'm so sorry for not posting for so long!  :O  I got very distracted with school (it's nearly the end of the semester) and working for my new cat and dog pages on Facebook (Calista's Crazy Colorful Cats and my new page that I'm working on with a few friends, Pawsitively Adorable Puppies).  Feel free to check them out on the right side of this blog.  :)

Again, sorry for not posting for so long!  I hope you guys are still interested in this story.  All feed back is accepted!  :D

Thanks for reading!  And I hope there aren't any errors, I was very desperate to post this post because I've had the pictures and the writing all ready to go (I just had to post the pictures into the post) for a while now.  :P  Anywho, have a nice day/night!